Stepdad: Body of missing Michigan man found in Iraq

AP File Photo Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, 19, of Waterford of Delta Company, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment is seen in Quarghuli village near Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq.

DETROIT -- A Michigan soldier missing in Iraq for more than a year has been discovered, his stepfather said.

Gordon Dibler said Thursday that military officials came to his Oxford home in northern Oakland County on Thursday afternoon and told him that the body of Pvt. Byron W. Fouty of Waterford was found in the Iraqi village of Jurf as Sakhr.

"Every day that he's been missing has been a day of 'what could have been' ... but after hearing the news ... I'm still in shock," Dibler said, who along with Fouty's stepsister, Sarah, heard the news firsthand.

"I know her heart's broken," Dibler said. "That's her big brother."

Army Sgt. Alex Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Mass., and Fouty, 19, were kidnapped along with a third member of their unit in May 2007 in the volatile area south of Baghdad known as the "triangle of death." The body of the third seized soldier, Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr. of Torrance, Calif., was found in the Euphrates River a year later.

Jimenez's father, Ramon "Andy" Jimenez, said uniformed military officials came to his home in Lawrence on Thursday to tell him the body of his son and some of his son's personal effects had been discovered.

Andy Jimenez told The Associated Press through a translator that the news "shattered all hope" the family had to "see Alex walk home on his own."

The soldiers' families, who had become friends over the past year, were notified around the same time and had been in touch. The Pentagon generally waits 24 hours after notifying the next of kin before making a release public.

Fouty was identified using dental records, Dibler said, adding that the bodies of both soldiers were taken to Dover, Del., where military officials are expected to perform further tests to positively identify both men and determine a cause of death.

"It's a very sad relief," Dibler said. "But I know I have to go forward, not just for our family, but for the other men and women who are still doing their job over there."

Family friend Cathy Conger of Oakland County's Commerce Township also learned Thursday that Fouty's remains had been found and identified.

"I was overwhelmed. I couldn't believe it," she said. "There is an ending to this, but it's not a happy ending. It's very, very sad. It's been over a year, and at least now we know what's going on."

Dibler said he spent much of Thursday on the phone talking with family and friends, and spoke to Jimenez's father. He said he always considered the two missing soldiers "our nation's sons."

"Byron went to Iraq to help people who couldn't help themselves," Dibler said, adding that conditions there have since improved. "I know their sacrifice was not for nothing. It was not in vain."

Lawrence Veterans Services Director Francisco Urena, who was at the Jimenez home Thursday and translated for the soldier's father, said the family was given no details on the discovery of the bodies or the nature of the soldiers' deaths.

Urena said the Jimenez family expected to receive Alex Jimenez's body in five days.

"He's very thankful for everybody from the community in Lawrence and throughout the U.S. who have provided him support during the difficult time the family has been through during the past 14 months," Urena said of Andy Jimenez.

The three soldiers, from the Fort Drum, N.Y.-based 10th Mountain Division, disappeared May 12, 2007, after insurgents ambushed their combat team 20 miles outside Baghdad. An Iraqi soldier and four other Americans from the same unit were killed in the attack.

The soldiers were from Company D, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment -- nicknamed the "Polar Bears."

Jim Waring of the family support group New England Care for Our Military said he spoke to both families Thursday night.

"It's going to be tough on them," he said. "They really had hoped they were alive."

Waring said his group had a banner for the missing soldiers: "Together they serve our nation and together they will come home."

"They did come home together, just not the way we wanted," Waring said.